The move goes against Donald Trump's ban on transgender personnel.

The Pentagon recently announced that it paid for the gender affirmation surgery of a transgender soldier, marking first time the organization has approved such a procedure and providing a stark contrast to the policy priorities of President Donald Trump.

NBC News first reported this week that the unidentified service member underwent the surgery after a doctor deemed it medically necessary, especially due to the fact that the soldier had previously started other gender-affirming procedures. NBC News also stated that this was the first surgery of its kind approved under the military's waiver request system, and the Pentagon confirmed that it took place in a civilian hospital.

The move came less than three months after President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he was banning transgender people from joining the military and continuing to serve, partially due to false claims that their healthcare led to high costs. "Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail," he stated at the time. However, a report conducted by nonprofit global policy think tank RAND Corporation found that the costs of gender-affirming procedures would cost the military only $2.4 million and $8.4 million. In contrast, the military spends five times that amount on just Viagra supplies alone.

The Pentagon also made its decision mere weeks after a federal court partially blocked Trump's ban on transgender military personnel and its enforcement, where the judge found fault with key parts of the policy and criticized the president's Twitter rollout due to its lack of direction or research.